Adult Illiteracy in North 
Carolina 



AND 



Plans for Its Elimination 



All together for the elimination of illiteracy in North 
Carolina, for the emancipation of every man, woman, and 
child from Its tragic limitations. 

J. Y. JOTNEB. 



issued tbom the office of 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction 

Raleigh, N. C. 

1915 



A5 



Adult Illiteracy in North 
Carolina 



AND 



Plans for Its Elimination 



All together for the elimination of illiteracy in 
North Carolina, for the emancipation of every man, 
woman, and child from its tragic limitations. 

J. Y. JOYNBB. 



/.: 



issued feom the office of 

State Stjpeeintendent of Public Instruction 

Raleigh, N. C. 

1915 



V 









Committee on Community Service 



J. Y. JOYNEB 

W. A. Graham 
E. K. Graham 



Clarence Poe, Chairman 
W. C. Crosby, Secretary 

J. I. FOUST 

H. Q. Alexander 

D. H. Hill 



W. S. Rankin 
T. B. Parker 
W. J. Shuforo 



cooperating with 

The State Department of Education 

The State Department of Agriculture 

The State Farmers' Union 



D. of Dcv 

CT 28 \B 3 



EDWARDS & BROUGHTON PRINTING CO.. RALEIGH. N. C. 



PREFACE 

An examination of the authentic statistics contained in this bulletin will 
convince any patriotic citizen of North Carolina that adult illiteracy is one 
of the most serious problems now confronting our people. With 12.3 per cent 
of the total white population over ten years of age and 14 per cent of the 
white male population of voting age illiterate; with most of these over 
twenty-one years of age and beyond the reach of the regular public schools, 
the moral, civic, christian, educational duty of finding and putting into suc- 
cesful execution some effective means outside of the regular public schools, 
but in cooperation as far as possible with them, for reaching and teaching 
these illiterates and bringing them out of their darkness into the light of 
intelligence, is manifest and urgent. 

In recognition of this duty, in cooperation with the Committee on Com- 
munity Service of the Conference for Social Service, with the assistance of 
the North Carolina Farmers' Union and the State Board of Agriculture that 
have kindly provided most of the funds for the employment of a secretary 
and the other expenses for the preparation of the necessary bulletins and 
the organization and direction of the work in conjunction with the State 
Department of Education; with the assurance of the hearty cooperation and 
active assistance of all the organizations, civic, social, and educational, and 
all the benevolent orders mentioned in this bulletin, and with the confident 
expectation of the heartiest cooperation of the press of the State, and of all 
other agencies, organizations and citizens working for the improvement of 
our citizenship and the betterment of our State, the State Department of Edu- 
cation has issued this bulletin of information to be followed later by a bulle- 
tin of plans and suggestions for teachers and workers. 

The State Department with the loyal support and active assistance of the 
county departments of education, the county superintendents, the county 
public school teachers, and others, in cooperation with all these other agen- 
cies, will inaugurate and push with as much vigor and enthusiasm as possible 
this movement for the reduction and final elimination of adult illiteracy in 
North Carolina through the means known as "Moonlight Schools," found 
effective in Kentucky and other places, and already used with success, as will 
be seen from this bulletin, in a number of counties in this State last year. 
These schools are simply night schools to teach illiterates, conducted in most 
instances in the public school buildings by volunteer teachers or others, pre- 
ferably during moonlight nights, for the greater convenience of the country 
people. 

This bulletin has been compiled and edited by Mr. W. C. Crosby, Secretary 
of the Community Service Committee, to whom we desire to make grateful 
acknowledgment for efficient, enthusiastic and unselfish service. 

J. Y. JOYNEE, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



COMPARISON OF NUMBER OF ILLITERATE WHITE VOTERS 
(Section of Southern States) 

North Carolina .^HmMMMiiii^Mii—iii—MMiiMMMiiiMiM- 14<^ 

Tennessee ■■■■■■^i^«BM«^B^i^Bi«^i«»» 11-37' 

South Carolina i^^— ■— -i^i^^^^^^"- 10 . 8^ 

Alabama MHHHiMMiHHiHH^Hiii^iiMH 10.6^ 

Virginia mamma^B^^^m^mm^^^^ 9.7^ 

Georgia t^mmi^m^a^^mmammmH^ S - lio 

United States w^^mm^^^.^'^ 

COMPARISON OF NUMBER OF ILLITERATE WHITE VOTERS 
(New England States) 

Massachusetts 1 

Connecticut 1 

Rhode Island i 

New Hampshire 

Maine 

Vermont 

United States 

Plate I. — AN UNANSWERABLE ARGUMENT FOR MOONLIGHT SCHOOLS IN 
NORTH CAROLINA. 




ADULT ILLITERACY IN NORTH CAROLINA AND 
PLANS FOR ITS ELIMINATION 

The census of 1910 shows that, with the exception of Louisiana and New 
Mexico, North Carolina has the largest percentage of native born white illit- 
erates in the United States, ranking forty-sixth in this particular. By reach- 
ing this generation of children as they pass through the public schools, our 
compulsory attendance laws, properly amended from time to time and prop- 
erly enforced, ought to eliminate illiteracy in the next generation of adults. 
In the meantime, this vast army or adult illiterates already beyond the reach 
of the schools and all compulsory attendance laws, must be reached, if reached 
at all, during this generation, by means outside of the public schools. The 
honor of the State and our manifest duty to these adult illiterates — our 
fellow-citizens — demand that we shall find and put into successful execution 
at once, some effective means for reaching them immediately, for reducing 
rapidly, and finally eliminating adult illiteracy in North Carolina. 

By strong resolutions, the State Association of County Superintendents, 
the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly, the Junior Order of United American 
Mechanics, the North Carolina Farmers' Union, and the State Federation of 
Women's Clubs have pledged themselves to cooperate actively in the move- 
ment for the elimination of adult illiteracy. It will be seen from the contents 
of this bulletin that the Conference for Social Service in North Carolina and 
the State Sunday School Association have also entered heartily and actively 
into the campaign. Nor is there any doubt of the hearty cooperation of the 
press, churches, and all other social service organizations of all sorts. By 
a properly organized and wisely directed movement for the purpose of estab- 
lishing moonlight schools in every community in North Carolina having any 
considerable number of adult illiterates, we ought to be able to eliminate 
adult illiteracy within the next few years. 

THE PROBLEM. 

A glance at the statistics and the black and white comparisons in this 
bulletin will give some idea of our problem of adult illiteracy. As intimated 
above, these statistics and comparisons are based on the United States Census 
of 1910, as no later figures are available. These figures err, probably, if at 
all, by making the number of adult illiterates too small, owing to the univer- 
sal disposition of the adult illiterate and his family to conceal the fact as 
much as possible. 

Our problem of illiteracy does not concern the altruist alone. The econo- 
mist has discovered its baneful influence upon the material progress of the 
State, which is always determined by the average intelligence of the voters. 
There is also a very definite relation between the illiteracy and the wealth- 
producing and the wealth-retaining power of a population. For this reason 
it has seemed wise and important to emphasize herein the lamentably large 
percentage of illiterate voters and heads of families. 



Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 




And Plans fok its Elimination 7 

For a graphic comparison of the percentage of illiterate white males of 
voting age in North Carolina with that of other southern states, the New 
England states, and the United States see Plate I. It seems impossible that 
our population could contain such a large percentage of white men who can- 
not so much as sign their names. But it is true. 

Somehow we have formed the habit of associating adult illiteracy only 
with the mountain section of the State. That is because we have not taken 
the trouble to investigate, for, as a matter of fact, it is not peculiar to any 
section. From Plate II it will be seen that the percentage of illiterate white 
males of voting age, by sections, is as follows: 

Mountain Section 17 per cent. 

Piedmont Section 12 per cent. 

Eastern Section 13 per cent. 

In Table A will be found the percentage of illiterate white males of voting 
age arranged by counties, ranging from 3 per cent in New Hanover to 26.9 per 
cent in Stokes. Table B shows comparison of total population and total 
illiterates arranged by counties. The same comparison as in Table A is 
shown in a shaded map as Plate III. 

Since 14 per cent of white males of voting age are illiterate; — cannot sign 
their names — it is probably safe to say that more than one-seventh of those 
who actually vote are illiterate, for those who do not go to the polls on elec- 
tion day are usually found among the more or less educated classes. In 
Plate IV can be seen, in black and white, the ratio of the number of voters 
who cannot so much as sign their names to the number who can. 

If all the white population were removed from the counties of Wake, Frank- 
lin, Nash, Edgecombe, Wilson, Johnston, and Wayne, and if all the illiterate 
whites ten years old and over in the State were segregated in those seven 
counties, the white population of the counties would not be changed in num- 
ber. In other words, there are as many illiterate whites in North Carolina 
as there are white people in those seven counties. This comparison will be 
found expressed in black and white as Plate V. 

Adult illiteracy is a great blot on the fair fame of North Carolina. One- 
seventh of our citizens are living in utter darkness; one-seventh of our ballots, 
the boasted crown and scepter of a free people, are cast in ignorance absolute; 
one-seventh of our grown-up men and women, most of them now perhaps 
past middle age, are drawing daily nearer to eternity without the blessed 
privilege of being able to read the Bible; one-seventh of our homes are with- 
out a paper or a book. 

Illiteracy is the mistress of human selfishness, the handmaiden of civic 
unrighteousness, the mother of poverty, the grandmother of crime. 

Humiliating and menacing as Illiteracy is in our State, little organized 
effort has been made thus far to eliminate it. We have simply hung our 
heads in shame at the mention of it, and "with one accord made excuses." 
We have voluminously accounted for it; we have meekly apologized for it; 
but we have done almost nothing to combat it. On however just grounds 
they may be based, the time for explanations, excuses, and apologies is past. 
The time for action, vigorous and virile, in every school district in the State 
has come. Illiteracy must inevitably handicap the progress of the State, 
discourage immigration of the desirable sort to the State and invite the 
sneers of the scorner and the defamation of the witling to the shame and 



Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 




And Plans fok its Elimination 9 

injury of the State for the next two or three generations, unless we find and 
put into immediate operation some effective means of reducing, and, if pos- 
sible, eliminating it during this generation. It is our duty to the State and 
to these illiterates who are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and who are 
not responsible for their illiteracy, to seek and find a way to reach and teach 
them without further delay. 

How shall it be done? Let Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart, County Superin- 
tendent of Rowan County, Kentucky, tell briefly how it has been done in one 
of the most illiterate mountain counties of Kentucky and how twenty-five 
other counties of that State following the inspiring example of that county 
are successfully eliminating adult illiteracy. In a letter under date of Feb- 
ruary 6, 1914, Mrs. Stewart writes: 

The first effort made to reduce Kentucky's adult illiteracy was begun h.ere 
in Rowan County three years ago under my supervision. We planned rural 
night schools for our adults, known since as "Moonlight Schools," because 
they were conducted on moonlight nights. We expected to enroll a straggling 
few, but found how eagerly adults welcome an opportunity when 1,200 people 
came the first evening. We taught persons from 18 to 86 years of age that 
year, having a two weeks session, then a recess and then another two weeks 
session. The next year we had a six weeks session, enrolled 1,600 and our 
oldest student was 87. In those two years we taught more than 6,000 people 
to read and write. During the autumn of 1913, we made an effort to com- 
pletely wipe out our illiteracy. V/e enrolled 2,500 persons, taught all illit- 
erates in the county but twenty-three, nineteen of these being "impossibles." 
In the meantime, eight counties in Kentucky tried the method with success 
the second year, and twenty-five adopted it last year. It was tried in the 
tobacco districts among the tenant class with marked success; it was tried in 
the mining camps, and the miners and their families embraced the opportunity 
with eagerness ; it was tried in isolated farming sections, and the farmers and 
their families came for miles and could hardly be driven home from school 
when the hour for dismissal arrived; in the mountains, where the movement 
originated, the people crowded to the schools in throngs, as many as 125 
being enrolled in one isolated district. 

In an address before the Southern Educational Association in 1912, Mrs. 
Stewart further describes her campaign against illiteracy: 

I gathered the teachers around me, outlined the plan, called for volunteer 
service, and without any difficulty enlisted them heart and soul in the causfe. 
On Labor Day, September 4th, the teachers observed as a real Labor Day, 
by walking over their districts, explaining the plan and announcing the 
opening, which was to occur the following evening. The demand was great; 
the teachers knew it and I knew it, and we confidently expected that there 
would be an average of two or three pupils to each teacher, making perhaps 
150 adult pupils in the county; but we never knew how great it was until the 
doors opened and the school bells rang for the first moonlight schools in 
America, when twelve hundred boys and girls, ranging in age from eighteen 
to eighty-six, came tripping up out of the hollows and over the hills, some 
to receive their first lesson in reading and writing, and some to improve their 
limited education. Illiterate merchants who had been in business for years, 
ministers who had been attempting to lead their flocks along paths of right- 
eousness, lumbermen who had engaged in commerce without having in their 
possession the keys of learning which would most successfully unlock its 
doors, took advantage of the opportunity, and actually learned to read and 
write. Mothers came that they might learn to write to their precious sons 
and daughters in distant lands, fathers came that they might learn to read 
and write sufficiently to exercise the divine right of suffrage with secrecy and 
security. They came with different aims and purposes, but, after all, in- 
spired by the one great aim — the escape from the bondage of ignorance and 



10 



Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 




And Plans fok its Elimination 



11 



the stigma of illiteracy. Almost one-third of the population of one little 
county was enrolled, and it was a county which contained no greater pro- 
portion of illiterates than many others in the South, both lowland and high- 
land. They had all the excuses and all the barriers which any people might 
offer — high hills, bridgeless streams, rugged roads, weariness from the day's 
hard toil, the shame of beginning* to study late in life, and all the others; 
but they were not seeking excuses— they were sincerely and earnestly seeking 
knowledge. Their interest, their zeal and their enthusiasm were wonderful to 
witness. It was truly an inspiring sight to see these aged pupils, bending 
over the desks which their children and grandchildren had occupied during 
the day. I have witnessed many degrees of joy and pride, but their delight 
in learning and their pride in their achievements exceeded any joy that I 
have ever witnessed. It was an inspiring sight to see the patient, noble. 




Plate IV. — BLACK AND WHITE COMPARISON OF ILLITERATE 
AND LITERATE WHITE VOTERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



unselfish young teachers, instructing by night as well as by day; and it is 
an inspiring thought to remember who these teachers were — mountain boys 
and girls who had secured an education, and had gone back to elevate their 
own communities; teachers who knew best the peculiarities and limitations 
of their senior pupils, and could best encourage and inspire them along the 
road of learning. They used as a text-book a little newspaper, especially 
prepared for the occasion, containing simple sentences, concerning the move- 
ments of people with whom they were acquainted, together with such sen- 
tences as would inspire their county pride and awaken them to continued 
effort. The object in using this paper was as much to save them from the 
embarrassment of using a primer, and to arouse in them the feeling of im- 
portance in being, from their first lesson, a reader of a newspaper, as for the 
objects already enumerated. 

"Writing more recently of the work in Kentucky, Mrs. Stewart speaks fur- 
ther of the results in Rowan County, Kentucky, and of the State-wide cam- 
paign under the direction of the Kentucky Illiteracy Commission: 

In Rowan County, the moonlight schools acted as a remarkable stimulus 
in the Sunday School and church work, increasing the attendance and interest , 
in the Sunday Schools, and exactly doubling the number of Sunday Schools. 
The effect was felt in commercial circles also, in the increased circulation 
of periodicals and books, and the deposit of funds by persons who had with- 
held their money from banks before because of the inability to sign their 
names to checks. Hundreds of letters flooded the mails. Sometimes as many 
as fifty and sixty letters a day, from people who were writing for the first 
time, came to the County Superintendent's desk, letters expressing in simple 



12 Adult Illiteracy in Worth Carolina 

but eloquent language the great joy and piide of the newly taught in being 
able to read the Bible and to use the pen. 

The Governor of Kentucky, seeing the effort which had been made in Rowan 
County, and its results, urged, in his message to the General Assembly, that 
a commission be created to be known as the Kentucky Illiteracy Commission, 
to investigate the condition of adult illiterates and to provide plans and 
means for their instruction. The General Assembly of 1914 readily recognized 
the expediency of such a step, and by a unanimous vote passed the measure 
creating the Kentucky Illiteracy Commission. The Governor appointed the 
members in April, 1914. This Commission was organized on May 1st, and 
decided upon an aggressive campaign against illiteracy, and such a campaign 
was immediately begun, and has since been actively waged. 

The Kentucky Illiteracy Commission has been organizing moonlight schools 
in the various counties since July 1st, and now such schools are established 
in fifty counties in Kentucky, in several districts in some, and in all districts 
in others. While the reports are not yet all in, it is estimated that one 
hundred thousand adults have been in school this year, and that twenty 
thousand of these were beginners, of all ages from 15 to 95 years. Many 
who were too proud or too stubborn to attend school were taught by the 
teacher or by some friend or neighbor or a son or daughter at home. Hun- 
dreds of letters are coming in to the office of the Kentucky Illiteracy Com- 
mission, from those who learned during the month of September to read and 
write. One teacher reports the emotion of a man aged 75 when he learned 
to read and first read a sentence from his Bible. She states that he shed 
tears of joy. Another tells of a man who had lived much isolated, but when 
he had learned to read and read some truths in the New Testament, declared: 
"This is the first time I ever heard of a Christ." Several persons who learned 
two years ago, have become school trustees and Superintendents of Sunday 
Schools. 

The people in our State who cannot read and write are mostly native-born 
white people, proud, worthy, noble, intelligent people, who have somehow 
missed the opportunity earlier for an education. A general "going to school" 
movement will undoubtedly influence them, and cause them to yet seek 
instruction. The great difficulty is that many of them are laboring under the 
delusion that they cannot learn, that the aptitude for learning passes after 
the school age. It is pathetic to hear men and women of forty and fifty 
say, in a tone of despair, when approached, "I am too old to learn." Will 
somebody not carry the message of hope and of opportunity to them? Will 
somebody not go and tell them of the men and women in Rowan County who 
learned to read simple sentences and to write a legible letter in seven to ten 
days' time, and of men and women in other counties who have done and are 
today doing the same? It is a matter of fact, established by the best psychol- 
ogists that adults learn reading, writing and arithmetic much more easily 
than children. 

What Kentucky has done and is doing North Carolina can do and must do — • 
and more, for the need is greater. Adult illiteracy in the United States is 
doomed. A few years more and there will not be a vestige of it left. Ken- 
tucky, led on by the spirit and inspiration of a woman, has preempted the 
first place in this glorious work. North Carolina may be second; indeed, 
there is a chance that she may even yet outstrip Kentucky and be the first to 
reach the coveted goal of '"every person in the State reads and writes in 1920." 

The work already done in North Carolina, with little or no organized effort, 
is inspiring. During the school year just passed eighty-two moonlight schools 
were organized and conducted in twenty-nine counties, with an enrollment 
of more than 1,600 adults of an average age of forty-five. A glance at the 
facsimile letters in this pamphlet (Plates VI, VII, VIII) will show some of 
the remarkable results of these schools. These letters were written by men 
who knew not a letter in the book to begin with and after only four to 
thirteen lessons. The letters are, of course, imperfect, but they signify the 



And Plans fok its Elimination 13 

transition of the writers from the illiterate to the literate column and give 
them a self-respect and a potentiality as citizens which nothing else could 
give. A further and perhaps more far-reaching effect of the moonlight school 
is reported by county superintendents in counties where several of these 
schools were successfully conducted — a new and more wholesome educational 
spirit, a new community interest in community schools. The voting of special 
tax, the building of new schoolhouses, the consolidation of districts — anything 
that will make a better community school — is a natural sequence of the 
interest created by the moonlight school. 

THE PLAN. 

What was done last year in North Carolina without organization is but an 
earnest of what will be done this year with an organized, State-wide move- 
ment. 

The State Department of Education, working in cooperation with the State 
Committee on Community Service, has undertaken to direct this State-wide 
crusade against adult illiteracy. Since this is essentially a work of education 
and must depend for success, in very large measure, on the State, county, and 
community school forces, cooperating with such other organized forces as 
volunteer to aid, it is natural that the State Department of Education has 
entered so heartily into the spirit of the work and undertaken for itself so 
generous a share of it. 

The plan is simple in detail. It contemplates the setting apart of a certain 
month during the coming school year to be known and observed throughout 
North Carolina as "Moonlight School Month." It is hoped that we may organ- 
ize and conduct (three nights a week) for at least this one whole month a 
night school for adult illiterates in every school district in the State where 
such illiterates are to be found. The date for the beginning of this moonlight 
school month will be announced later. The purpose is just now to organize 
the forces, secure volunteer teachers for the schools, and push the campaign 
vigorously into every nook and corner of the State. 

The forces will be organized just as they were last fall for "Community 
Service Week." There will be a county committee and district committees 
working with the general or State committee. The county and local com- 
mittees formed last year are asked to serve again this year, and will be com- 
municated with through the county superintendent. In counties where com- 
mittees did not serve last fall the committees will be organized with the 
following members: the county superintendent (who should be secretary of 
the committee), the farm demonstration agent, the secretary or president of 
the county Farmers' Union, editors of the county newspapers, the mayor of 
the county seat, and a member representing the Junior Order and one repre- 
senting the Women's Clubs. These will meet and organize and appoint as 
many other members of the county committee as may seem advisable. They 
will also appoint a local committee for each school district in the county. 
The local committee should include the teacher, the chairman of the local 
school committee, the president of the Local Farmers' Union, and two or 
three other public spirited citizens of the community, some of whom should 
be women. 

Pledge-cards for volunteer teachers in these night schools will be distributed 
at the Teachers' Institutes during the summer, from the county superintend- 
ent's office, or direct from this office on request. 



14 Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 

The State Department of Education will issue, about the first of September, 
a definite, practicable plan for organizing and conducting these moonlight 
schools, with many helpful suggestions to teachers and an outline of the 
material to be used in the month's school work. The intention of this is to 
give practical aid to the inexperienced teacher (and very few indeed have had 
experience in teaching adults) in order to prevent the waste of time neces- 
sarily entailed by the haphazard and uncertain efforts of the teacher in trying 
"to find herself" in this untried work. These suggestions will be based on the 
first-hand knowledge of the subject furnished by those who have had prac- 
tical and succesful personal experience as teachers in moonlight schools. 

CONCLUSION. 

It may be argued by some that the adult illiterate does not deserve pity or 
help because there is not one in the State who has not at some time had the 
opportunity to learn to read and write. It might as well be argued that the 
Gospel should not be preached to those who have long neglected, even scorned, 
salvation. Our duty is as clear in the one case as the other. 

Most adult illiterates desire above all things else to learn to read and write, 
and they respond readily and heartily to tactful efforts to enroll them in the 
night schools. One teacher tells of some men who last winter tramped six 
miles and back the same night over a mountain to attend the moonlight 
school, and that after a hard day's work at the sawmill with another in pros- 
pect for the next day. But they never were absent or tardy and always 
seemed sorry when school was out for the night. And, of course, they learned 
to read and write, and, as they express it, "figure a little." 

Isn't it worth while to give to such men as these the blessing that others 
have given to us, especially since the giving enriches rather than impov- 
erishes us? 

■^ As Superintendent Joyner has well said: "By the accident of birth, the for- 
tune of environment, the love of our fellow-men expressed in private and 
public schools for us, here sit we smugly in the light; yonder at our doors are 
our brothers — thousands of them, sitting in the shadow of the world, in the 
bitterness of darkness, in the bondage of illiteracy — mature men and women, 
old men and women — but children still— 

" 'Children crying in the night, 
Children crying for the light, 
And ivith no language but a cry.' 

"That cry, from the depths of some divine despair, rising from mountain 
top and cove — from plain and valley — ringing in the ears of men, ascending 
to the courts of heaven, shall we not heed it? Duty points the way, con- 
science lights the path; shall we not go down to them, these grown-up chil- 
dren, these lame ones — lame of mind, lame of soul, lame, so many of them, 
from their mother's womb, lame, most of them, because, in the words of one 
of them, they 'hain't never had no chance.' Shall we not go down to them, 
and bid them in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 'Rise up and walk'? 
Shall we not take them by the hand and lift them up, that they may gather 
strength to stand alone, to walk alone, to live in the light, to dwell in the 
darkness no more forever?" 



And Plans for its Elimination 



15 



TABLE A. 

Percentage of Illiterate White Voters, by Counties, 
IN Order of Rank. 



Counties 



New ^Hanover. 
Mecklenburg... 

Washington 

Dare 

Pasquotank 

Rowan 

Craven 

Vance 

Graham 

Iredell 

Perquimans 

Richmond 

Guilford 

Durham 

Pender 

Bertie 

Buncombs . 

Halifax 

Alamance 

Moore 

Currituck 

Anson 

Henderson 

Alleghany 

Orange 

Wake 

Lee-_I 

Cabarrus 

Forsyth 

Hyde 

McDowell 

Transylvania. 

Warren 

Catawba 

Pamlico 

Cumberland-- 

Wayne 

Randolph 

Union 

Gates 

Beaufort 

Hoke 

Chatham . 

Edgscombs--- 

Haywood 

Franklin 

Gaston 

Bladsn '.. 

Granville 

Lincoln 



Per 

Cent. 



3 

4.4 
6.2 

6.8 
7.5 



9 

9.1 
9.1 
9.3 
9.5 
9.6 
9.7 
9.8 
10.1 
10.1 
10.3 
10.6 
10.7 
10.8 
11 

11.1 
11.2 
11.3 
11.5 
11.7 
12 
12 
12.1 
12.1 
12.1 
12.1 
12.5 
12.5 
12.6 
12.6 
12.9 
13 

13.3 
13.5 
13.5 
13.7 
13.7 
13.7 
13.8 
14 

14.1 
14.2 
14.3 



Rank 



50 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
58 
60 
60 
62 
63 
63 
65 
66 
67 
67 
69 
70 
71 
71 
73 
74 
75 
76 
76 
76 
79 
79 
79 
82 
83 
83 
83 



100 



Counties 



Robeson 

RocMngham.- 

Harnett 

Chowan 

Hertford 

Northampton. 

Davidson 

Caswell 

Pitt 

Brunswick 

Cleveland 

Carteret 

Lenoir 

Onslow 

Jones 

Polk 

Rutherford 

Watauga 

Wilson 

Macon.. __ 

Martin 

Montgomery.. 

Tyrrell _ 

Nash 

Stanly 

Alexander 

Jackson 

Sampson 

Ashe 1 

Johnston 

Person 

Scotland 

Camden 

Duplin 

Swain 

Clay 

Burke 

Caldwell 

Greene 

Davie 

Yadkin 

Columbus 

Madison 

Yancey 

Cherokse 

Wilkes __. 

Surry 

Mitchell 

Avery 

Stokes... , 



16 



Adult Illiteeacy in North Carolina 



TABLE B. 



COMPABISON OF TOTAL WhITE POPULATION AND ToTAL NUMBER OF WHITE 

Illiterates, Arranged by Counties. 



Counties 


Total White 

Persons Over 

Ten Years 

Old 


Total White 

Illiterates Ten 

Years Old 

and Over 


White Males 

of Voting 

Age 


imterate White 

Males of 

Voting Age 




15,977 

7.542 

5,266 

8,753 

12,831 

12,871 

7,006 

6,944 

6,357 

30,211 

13,431 

14,384 

12,751 

2,511 

8,470 

5,364 

17,203 

10,990 

9,411 

3,693 

2.675 

16,925 

13.583 

8,176 

14,682 

3,736 

3,134 

18.394 

8,100 

11,647 

17,155 

9,233 

24,755 

9,413 

20,262 

4,279 

3,111 

9,374 

4,842 

33,310 

10,054 

11,130 

14,241 

10,359 

4,678 

3,839 

19,257 

8,260 

21,730 

3,258 

5,740 

9, "083 


1,489 

1,120 

524 

838 

2,005 

1,419 

559 

854 

1,029 

2,445 

2,153 

1,652 

2,130 

318 

1,144 

623 

1,819 

1,218 

1,830 

392 

436 

2,435 

2,644 

622 

1,625 

298 

238 

2,387 

1,270 

1,654 

1,403 

1,048 

2,702 

1,075 

2,934 

357 

318 

943 

731 

2,606 

866 

1,391 

1,846 

1,111 

479 

458 

1,445 

1,260 

3,476 

409 

508 

1,067 


5,171 

2,287 
1,588 
2,956 
3,968 
4,445 
2,382 
2,282 
2,236 
9,705 
4,125 
4,662 
4,023 

847 
2,938 
1,798 
5,252 
3,617 
2,991 
1,226 

848 
5,291 
4,414 
2,867 
4,811 
1,319 
1,075 
5,913 
2,576 
3,899 
5,540 
3,162 
8,294 
3,283 
6,204 
1,410 
1,036 
2,996 
1,694 
11,092 
3,510 
3,685 
4.801 
3.326 
1,615 
1,372 
5,982 
2,632 
7,158 
1,131 
1,849 
3.064 


547 




402 




179 




327 




699 




603 


Bertie - 


240 


Bladen . - .. - 


324 




353 




991 


Burke --- 


754 




560 


Caldwell 


759 




154 




461 




275 




659 




497 




656 




183 


Clay — 


154 




814 




895 




259 




612 




143 




73 




904 




495 




703 




542 




439 


Forsyth . 


1,008 


Franklin ^ 


454 




879 




187 


Grahani 


94 




428 


Greene. 


321 


Guilford - 


1,081 


Halifax .„ 


363 


Harnett.. 


537 


Haywood . . 


658 


Henderson. . _ 


372 


Hertford. .- 


243 


Hyde. 


167 


Iredell 


547 




463 




1,260 




179 




218 


Lenoir 


482 



And Plans for its Elimination 



IT 



TABLE B. — Continued. 



Counties 


Total White 

Persons Over 

Ten Years 

Old 


Total White 

Illiterates Ten 

Years Old 

and Over 


White Males 

of Voting 

Age 


Illiterate White 

Males of 

Voting Age 




10,150 

8,056 
13,530 

6,457 

8,088 
30,628 
11,519 

7,857 

8,190 
14,073 
12,505 

6,919 

6,951 

7,611 

4,469 

6,117 

5,583 

3,940 

7,147 
12,780 

4,566 
18,850 

7,674 
17,518 
18,709 
20,261 
16,933 
14,151 

5,104 
12,237 
11,965 
18,774 

6,376 

4,651 

2,650 
16,490 

6,806 
28,102 

4,987 . 

3,993 

9,311 
14,613 
19,399 
11,682 
10,111 

8,199 


1,270 

1,032 

2,535 

943 

794 

1,398 

2,575 

1,130 

829 

2,147 

403 

832 

960 

625 

492 

373 

469 

279 

870 

1,417 

690 

2,188 

776 

2,361 

2,302 

1,485 

2,590 

2,021 

948 

1,887 

2,447 

3,573 

1,149 

543 

394 

1,867 

556 

2,749 

413 

237 

1,375 

1,401 

4,214 

1,614 

1,822 

1,601 


3,146 
2,543 
4,226 
2,230 
2,567 
10,202 
3,660 
2,517 
2,602 
4,890 
4,271 
2,361 
2,413 
2,583 
1,508 
2,010 
1,987 
1,350 
2,338 
4,467 
1,470 
6,123 
2,569 
5,729 
5,844 
6,689 
5,290 
4,735 
1,671 
3,804 
3,770 
5,910 
2,133 
1,559 
901 
5,290 
2,251 
9,630 
1,625 
1,390 
2,883 
4,832 
5,991 
4,024 
3,123 
2,577 


450 




420 




921 




378 




313 




461 


Mitchell 


883 




427 




283 




844 




134 




358 




380 




292 




189 




152 


Pender 


195 




126 




411 


Pitt 


684 


Polk 


238 




794 




245 




823 




848 




538 




854 




832 




300 


Stanly - 


658 


Stokes 


1,016 




1,378 




386 




191 


Tyrrell - 


153 




687 




204 


Wake 


1,116 




201 




86 




464 




611 


Wilkes 


1,361 




056 


Yadkin 


612 




560 







Note.— Statistics for the new counties of Avery and Hoke are nor yet available, 
fair, however, to rank them with the counties from which they were carved. 



It would seem 



J 8 AuiiLT Illiteracy in North Carolina 



RESOLUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS ASSOCIATION. 

At the recent convention of the State Press Association, held at Montreat, 
the following resolution was unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That we heartily endorse the Moonlight School movement for the 
elimination of adult illiteracy In North Carolina, and pledge the support and 
active aid of our papers to it and to the plan outlined in the address of the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction to the North Carolina Press Association; 
and we ask Doctor Joyner to send a copy to every editor with request to 
publish. 



And Plans fok its Elimination 19 



THE FARMEKS' UMOJf IS PLEDGED TO THE CAUSE. 

H. Q. Alexander, State President. 

Darknesss is the antithesis of light. We comprehend the density of the 
one only by contrasting it with the brightness of the other. 

But can we who are blessed with the knowledge to comprehend the printed 
page form any true conception of the blank darkness of the minds of those 
thousands of men and women in North Carolina who can not read and write? 
I can conceive of no prison house that could entail such mental anguish, such 
a feeling of lonely isolation as must be experienced by our unfortunate breth- 
ren whose lives are shut up in the prison of ignorance, deprived of the light 
and hope and inspiration of written knowledge. 

What is the light of knowledge worth? If it were possible to dispose of the 
ability to read and write, what price would be asked by those who revel in 
the pleasures and satisfaction of association with the brightest intellects of 
earth by means of the printed page? My readers, would you sell out at any 
price? No, you would not. You have that which can not be valued; it is 
beyond price. 

Then since we have such a precious possession, what are we doing that 
those who have it not may share this blessing with us, and that, too, without 
diminishing our own holdings? This is one of those priceless treasures 
which the more we share it with others the more we have ourselves. Then is 
it not the duty of those who can dispense the light to send it forth into the 
night that darkess may be dispelled? "No man liveth unto himself and no 
man dieth unto himself." "He that shutteth his ears to the cry of his brother 
in need, shall cry himself and shall not be heard." 

But you ask how you can send forth the light into the darkness of the 
minds of men and women who can see no beauty in the printed page — they 
who have eyes to see but see not? The moonlight school opens the way. The 
solution of the problem of how to wipe out adult illiteracy in North Carolina 
is now within our reach. 

The Farmers' Union is first of all an educational organization. It is 
striving not only for the right kind of education for all the children of the 
State by adapting our schools to the needs of the people, but the Union is 
itself a great adult school with an enrollment of forty thousand pupils. Each 
of these pupils, on enrollment in this great organization school, assumed an 
obligation to help his fellow members in every way possible without jeopard- 
izing his own interest. The moonlight school offers an opportunity to help 
the most unfortunate of our race. The Farmers' Union will rally its member- 
ship throughout the State in organizing moonlight schools in every com- 
munity where adult illiteracy exists. 

The local unions in the public school districts should act at once, appointing 
committees of the most active and enthusiastic members, whose duty it will 
be to hunt up all adult illiterates within the school district, or the territory 
within the bounds of their local union and get them enrolled in a moonlight 
school. Let every local union assume the moral obligation of saving every 
man and woman in the community from the hitherto hopeless darkness of 
illiteracy. It can be done, it must be done, it will be done. 

Only an educated reading citizenship can safely be entrusted to guard the 
welfare of the commonwealth. The intelligent few will not govern to the 



20 



Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 



or* — — 






6 



o 

^ o 

^ CO 



o 
o 



or) <* 

■<^ Go 

o 



o 

I 

<7> 






A) 



^ 



G\ 



>• .2? 



And Plans for its Elimination ' 21 

best advantage of unintelligent masses. The safety of any people can best 
be conserved by a democracy of education. We pledge the union to co- 
operate actively and enthusiastically in this great work. 



WHO CAN HELP TO ELIMINATE ADULT ILLITEEACT? 

A. W. McAlister, President of the North Carolina Conference for Social Service, 

There are certain facts in reference to the subject of adult illiteracy which 
can be taken for granted and which do not require any demonstration. That 
adult illiteracy exists in North Carolina to a discreditable extent and that its 
obliteration would be a blessing to the grown-ups who cannot read nor write 
and that it would contribute to the progress of the State of North Carolina 
and to the eflBiciency of her people — these are things which need only to be 
stated and do not need to be argued. 

The important thing is to find the agencies that can be used for the wiping 
out of adult illiteracy and to set them moving. Every agency in existence 
in which the cooperative principle for the common good is operative, should 
lend a hand. In the very nature of things, the public schools of the State, 
or rather the public school teachers, will contribute more to the cause than 
anybody else. That is where the great burden of the work is going to fall, 
but their work can be supplemented in a variety of ways and by many other 
agencies. The church can take a hand in this piece of great social service, 
and ought to do it. The church can encourage it, can help to popularize it 
and can proclaim it as a duty; a duty on the part of the illiterate to embrace 
the opportunity; a duty on the part of the people to render the service. There 
is much that the Sunday Schools can do. They can do all that the churches 
can do and more. They can enlist their teachers and the members of adult 
classes and find in the teaching of illiterates a noble social service task. The 
crusade against adult illiteracy is in line with the work of the social service 
department of the Women's Clubs, and will, no doubt, have a strong appeal 
to their sympathy, and their help. The civic leagues, the social welfare 
associations, and other organizations for community betterment should be 
willing to have a part in this work and will recognize it as an opportunity 
to contribute to community progress and uplift. Chambers of Commerce are 
giving more and more attention to those things which tend to improve condi- 
tions of living and to the social advancement of communities, and there is, 
therefore, no reason why they should not contribute their part to such an 
undertaking for the public good. An object so beneficent as the carrying to 
men and women who cannot read and write, the light of knowledge will, no 
doubt, appeal also to the Young Men's Christian Association and to the Young 
Women's Christian Association. There seems to be no end to the agencies 
whose interest can be enlisted. If all, or even a small part of these forces can 
be set in motion, it will not take long to do the job. 



22 Adult Illiteeacy in North Caeoliica 

HOW THE SUNDAY SCHOOL CAN HELP TO WIPE OUT ADULT 
ILLITERACY IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

J. Walter Long, General Secretary of the North Carolina Sunday School Association. 

There must be cooperation on the part of the day school, the home, and the 
church school before there can be developed community programs adequate 
to all the needs and opportunities of all the people. Ample provision has 

<^^3>c^Y-< ^^^Ti^isJi ^TnTT^ 

Plate VII.— CAN READ THE BIBLE AFTER THIRTEEN LESSONS. 

Written at the tliirteenth lesfcon by a man well along in middle life, who could not sign his 

name when he enrolled in the Moonlight School. 





And Plans for its Elimination 23 

been made on the part of the modern Sunday School for such cooperation 
through the Home Department, Cradle Roll, and the Department of Education. 
Likewise the Sunday School can make connection with various organizations 
through its special departments, such as Temperance, Social Service, Mis- 
sions, Surplus Material, Health, etc. 

The Department of Education of the Sunday School is not only designed to 
place the work of. the church school on an efficiency basis educationally, 
calling for standardized graded work, promotions, and recognitions, but is 
designed also to effectively relate the church school with the day school, 
college, and university. In some of the states correlated study is being 
carried on, the Bible being taught in the Sunday School and the high school 
giving credit for the work done. Another plan known as the "Garey Plan," 
provides for the children and young people in the public schools to go to their 
respective churches one or two afternoons each week to receive instruction 
in religious education. 

The above has been mentioned to show that the Sunday Schools are enlarg- 
ing their field of education without leaving any one of the fine features now 
making up their programs. 

One other thing should be said for the Sunday School. It is the only 
agency seeking to bring all the people of a community together once every 
week in the year for any purpose whatsoever, and would be worth while for 
social reasons alone, to say nothing of its teaching function. 

As I see it, the Sunday School has only to set itself to the task of aiding 
the State and whatever agencies may participate in this worthy and timely 
task of banishing adult illiteracy from our progressive commonwealth. 

Twice recently the statement has appeared in the daily papers that there 
are now men enough in the adult classes in the Sunday Schools of the United 
States to determine national elections and national issues. 

The possibility and joy of this piece of work must have been anticipated 
by the able young senator of Guilford County, P. P. Hobgood, Jr., in an ad- 
dress before a large and most representative audience of men representing 
the adult Bible classes of the city of Greensboro, who had gathered to organ- 
ize the Men's Section of the Adult Division of the Greensboro Sunday School 
Association. Mr. Hobgood said: "I can think of no task in connection with 
our city that the men before me cannot perform in the name of God and in 
the interest of humanity if they will only define it and set themselves to 
perform it." Add to this the Women's Section of the same division and let 
the statement apply to the large piece of work in contemplation — that of 
banishing adult illiteracy from our community — and we have the Sunday 
School's part of this work, at least in contemplation. 

I can think of no finer task to which the Sunday Schools can set them- 
selves. It is a magnificent challenge from the State accompanied with the 
deep hunger of those who deserve the best, but whose circumstances or other 
causes have prevented them from obtaining it. 

The denominations of the State with their 8,000 Sunday Schools, and more 
than 648,000 pupils stand ready, I am sure, to take part in this fascinating 
piece of work. The State Sunday School Association as a cooperative agency 
stands ready to encourage and help in every way consistent with its broad 
policy. 



24 Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 



A CALL TO TEACHEES. 

Mary Owen Graham, President North Carolina Teachers' Assembly. 

The State is again asking definite service from her teachers. It is this 
call to arms in this war against illiteracy. Though this is to be a peaceful 
war it is to be no less determined. Each side must be armed with patience 
and determination. The stronger side with knowledge, all too well we know 
the armor of the weaker side. 

Last year many of our teachers were volunteer workers in the moonlight 
schools. The statistics tell us there were 82 schools with an enrollment of 
1,600. These statistics are thrilling, but the report of the work accomplished 
and how it was accomplished is more so. These schools had volunteer teach- 
ers with volunteer pupils bound together with one common purpose. 

I am not afraid that the teaching force of the State will not arise to assist 
in wiping out this blot on the fair name of our State, and the dark blot on 
the intelligence of our sisters and brothers in our commonwealth. This call 
is not only definite but the plan for the campaign is definite. These pupils 
are in these schools with a definite purpose. The time they can come is very 
definite in its being limited, and the most must be made of it that can be. 

It seems to me that there is another definite call to our teachers and that 
is to prepare books for study by our adult illiterates. This State not only 
needs them, but other States engaged in the same campaign needs them, and 
have not as yet supplied their need. There is then a market for such a 
contribution to school publications. My hope is that some North Carolina 
teachers will supply this necessity. If we do not supply this lack some other 
State will. There are text-books for the non-English-speaking and -reading 
immigrant, but these books do not fill the need required by the adult illiterate 
native born. I throw this suggestion out for fruitful effort of some of our 
teachers. After the book is studied which will supply the mechanics of 
word getting, could we not have books prepared, or books already written 
recommended for use in the classes for these illiterates? Do you not think 
that they are hungry for the feeling of "knowing that they know"? Do you 
not think that they need stories of achievement, of heroism, of industry, of 
the world of nature, entirely unknown to them we might say? 

The study of these adult illiterates must be so well directed that they will 
be inspired to further effort. Our interest in them must not flag with the 
mere tools we must teach them to use for the process of word getting, they 
must be inspired to further effort. 

Are you surprised that effort is lacking or asleep? For so many years 
the only way they have gotten anything was by word of mouth from those 
of their own kind. They must be taught to compare what they think with 
what others think by reading from the printed page, and also taught to look 
beyond the narrow horizon of their lives to the great, wide, wonderful, beau- 
tiful world beyond them. 

I have in mind just now an acquaintance quite beyond the half a century 
mark, a woman whose early advantages were most limited. One of the pleas- 
ures of her life now is to read the Bible in words of one syllable. There are 
not many books in this class on the market. Who knows another such book? 
It would be well if we could make a list of books suited to this class of 



And Plans for its Elimination 25 

readers. It may be there could be some traveling libraries collected for this 
very purpose. 

I know another illiterate who against many odds tried to learn to read. 
He said one night, "Don't nobody know how bad I want to learn how to read." 



,/3-^ ' L '«^-"v-^ ^*y\P 














Plate VIII.— DID YOU DO AS WELL ON YOUR FIRST TRIAL? 

This was his motive power and it is the same wish which crowns our moon- 
light schools with such rich results. 

The grown man or woman learning how to "read and write and cipher" 
when past thirty may achieve remarkable results. The story of such an one, 
written of himself, by himself, is the story of Owen Kildare, told in his book, 
"My Mamie Rose." I think it a most inspiring book to be read by a teacher 



26 Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 

of the adult illiterate. It is a novel with the love story element. It is a 
remarkable story of what a grown man may learn when he really wishes 
to study. 

These thoughts have come to me in regard to this call sent forth to the 
teachers, and others who wish to render service in this line of endeavor. 
Your students will not have the readiness to learn nor the sparkle of enjoy- 
ment that the six-year-old has, but they will come to you with patience of 
endeavor, determination to win, and receive the reward which will come 
with such effort. I feel that this campaign to wipe out adult illiteracy in 
North Carolina is to be an epoch in her educational history, which will be a 
source of inspiration to all who are interested in the development of the 
State, and also to workers in other commonwealths who are dealing with 
the same problem. 

THE JUMOR ORDER WILL DO ITS PART. 

Paul Jones, State Councilor. 

The question of adult illiteracy in North Carolina is today attracting the 
attention of all thoughtful men and women. The wonder and the pity of it 
is that it has been so long overlooked. 

I don't think any one need be alarmed over the education of the children 
of our State, because they have been provided for by law. Means to keep the 
schoolhouses open to the children have been provided and statistics prove 
that no State is doing more for the children of school age than North Carolina 
is now doing. 

But with the adult illiterates things are different. They are excluded from 
the public schools and the future for them so far as education is concerned, 
is well nigh hopeless. 

Soon after I was elected Councilor of the Junior Order of United American 
Mechanics of North Carolina, I became interested in the question of adult 
illiteracy, arid I must confess I was almost dumfounded when I learned the 
great number of men and women who could not read or write. 

The Junior Order stands for the public school system. It stands for the 
education of the masses. These tenets are not foreign matter to us, but 
things we teach to every man who comes into our midst. 

When I called upon the 37,000 true members of this Order to make the 
slogan of my administration, "Down with adult illiteracy in North Carolina," 
not a dissenting note was heard, but on the other hand, the response has 
been truly splendid. 

This Order today stands back of the Board of Agriculture, back of the 
State Superintendent, Dr. J. Y. Joyner, back of the Committee on Community 
Service, back of every teacher, to assist in any and every possible way to 
eliminate adult illiteracy in North Carolina. 

Can this be done? We may say yes it can be done. We believe it will be 
done, but it is going to take some hard work to accomplish the task. 

There are in this State more than 400 Junior Order Council Halls, with an 
average membership of 90 men to each Council. It is our purpose to see that 
each one of these Councils shall have a moonlight school to which will be 
invited the adult illiterates of that neighborhood. 

It is not only our purpose to assist in establishing these moonlight schools, 
but I have instructed my deputies of the local Councils to go out among the 



And Plans fob its Elimination 27 

highways and hedges and bid the illiterates to come in. I have found in 
many instances that these people who are ignorant and illiterate feel some 
delicacy in attending these schools, because they are ashamed to display 
their ignorance and illiteracy. This, however, can be overcome by persistent 
work and persuasion. 

This work that has been taken up by our Order is the greatest undertaking 
that it has ever set about to do. It is not the work of one year, but it will 
be the work of years. It is a long hard road to travel, beset with difficulty 
and probably disappointments in the beginning, but the Junior Order, know- 
ing all these things may happen, has slipped another hole in the buckle, 
pulled itself together firmly and strongly, and has sprung into the great 
conflict with darkness and illiteracy, determined to win or die in the attempt. 

As State Councilor, I am giving almost my entire time to this great work. 
I feel it is a duty I owe to my State. I have traveled across the State several 
different times. I have addressed my members on many occasions. I have 
appealed to the people everywhere I have been to give their sympathy and 
support to this great movement now on in North Carolina. 

When my term of office expires next August, I shall not stop, but I am 
determined to press the work onward. It must not cease. The Junior Order 
is not going to tie up, but after having entered into this great fight freely 
and voluntarily, it will remain out on the firing line till every foe is van- 
quished. 

Great will be that day in North Carolina when we can publish to the world 
that illiteracy has been blotted out, and the light of education streams into 
every nook and corner of our grand old commonwealth. 

A SOCIAL SERYICE CALL TO THE WOMEJT OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mrs. T. W. Lingle, President of the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs. 

This bulletin carries to the people of North Carolina the announcement 
that a State-wide campaign is being organized to teach adult illiterates to 
read and write. Moonlight schools have already been successfully started 
in several counties and their number is rapidly increasing, no less than 
eighty having been opened since last Christmas. Our county superintendents 
and graded school teachers are the prime movers so far in this undertaking, 
and on them and the rural teacher the burden of the night school will fall. 
But this is something in which we may all have a share. 

It is with the greatest confidence and enthusiasm that I call upon all our 
North Carolina women to join this movement, for it gives us an opportunity 
to render a definite social service to the State. 

To my friends organized in civic leagues, and women's clubs, a call to a 
big State-wide task will come as no surprise, for our help is often asked and 
gladly given to public undertakings. 

At the recent Convention of the State Federation held in Goldsboro, the 
Moonlight School Movement was ably presented by Dr. Joyner and Mr. 
Crosby, and a resolution introduced in the Social Service Conference by Miss 
Edith Royster was unanimously passed at a business session of the Conven- 
tion. By this resolution the Federation expressed not only its moral approval 
of the Moonlight School Movement, but it promised its hearty and active 
support to the leaders of the plan presented for wiping out adult illiteracy 
from the State. Miss Mary O. Graham expressed, in no uncertain terms. 



28 Adult Illiteracy in North Carolina 

her personal faith in the success of the undertaking and foretold the sup- 
port of the members of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly. Miss Eliza- 
beth A. Colton spoke for the college women in recognizing this movement as 
a fundamental step toward raising the educational standards of the State. 
That every woman's organization in the State will follow this action of the 
Federation of Women's Clubs in giving its support to the Moonlight School 
Movement is now assured. 

But this is not just a club woman's concern, not a college woman's or 
teacher's exclusive business. Our 4,000 club women alone can not touch it. 
The teaching force of the State is not great enough to handle it. This is a 
movement in which all our forces are needed — our united forces. And not 
ours only, that of the women already organized in clubs and societies and 
associations, but that still greater mass of womanhood — the unfedorated 
woman. The stand-by of the home, the stay-at-home mother and big sister 
must help us reach the illiterates in every locality. From many of these 
"silent sermonizers" we must take our first lessons in teaching neighbors, 
children and servants how to read and write. The Bible on the shelf of 
many a kitchen has marked passages which show where halting steps have 
been led patiently along the path of learning. Yesterday's paper and last 
week's journal tucked away for perusal with a chance caller speak eloquently 
of lessons already begun. But the time has come when united action must 
be taken against a recognized menace to our advancement. North Carolina 
can not hold up her head among her sister states or take her rightful place 
as a leader among them while she is held down and kept back by a great 
weight — like a mill stone hanging around her neck. 

That attention has at last been centered on the weakest link in our social 
fabric is not surprising. A newly developed "social conscience" has been 
leading all of us of late to take an active interest in the children of all sorts, 
and conditions of men. We are seeking more earnestly than ever before 
to know the causes of poverty and crime and to trace the effects of ignorance 
and immorality on generation after generation of those who sit in intellec- 
tual darkness. 

Investigations have been made and statistics compiled which are full of 
information for the thoughtful citizen. Some figures are published for the 
first time in this bulletin which reveal the unsuspected relation of ignorance 
and illiteracy to crime and want. They reveal the fact that wherever educa- 
tion has not penetrated, there poverty and immorality are most prevalent. 
The rate of the school tax is always a pretty good index of the intelligence of 
a county. The advance made by our educational system in the last few years 
has been wonderful. More and more children are brought into school every 
year, and the adoption of the compulsory school law places North Carolina in 
line with the more progressive states of the Union. 

The first compulsory school law known to history was passed in Germany 
in 1632 in the Grand Duchy of which Weimar is the capital. Similar laws 
have been gradually adopted by all civilized countries. Attendance at school 
is compulsory in all the enlightened parts of Europe and America except in 
eight or nine of our southern states. The law enacted in this State, limited 
as it is as to grade and length of school term, is but an entering wedge which 
must be followed up by longer terms and by raising the age limit. 

But for many of our people, educational advantages have been provided toov 



And Plans foe its Elimination 29' 

late. They were born before the day of free, common schooling. Hundreds, 
and thousands of our citizens, after spending their childhood in neglect and 
ignorance, have passed into adult, life without receiving an education. Living 
in sections remote from school privileges, or working in centers where labor 
early claimed them as her hirelings, these people have grown up without 
receiving the rudiments of an education. 

The adult illiterates in our State are not just a few insignificant sons of 
toil. They form a small army, numbering no less than two hundred thousand 
people. People who can not read and write are to be found in every section 
and in every county of the State. Illiteracy is by no means confined to the- 
negro race. On the contrary, we have nearly fifty thousand white voters who 
can not read the ballots they cast. There are doubtless an equal number 
of white women who can not read a recipe in a cook book or write a note to- 
the school teacher. 

What does this presage for the coming generation? Children brought up 
by ignorant parents are naturally superstitious and unreasonable. No one 
is quite so "set in his ways" as the person who is shut off from the news of 
the world's progress as it is recorded in newspapers, periodicals, and books of" 
lasting value. The children coming from illiterate homes are the hardest 
ones to get to school regularly, and they present a difficult problem to the 
teacher when they do come. With no intelligent guidance at home their 
lessons are poorly learned, the necessary time is not given them for study, 
they are soon discouraged and usually drop out of school before finishing the 
fifth grade. 

For the sake of the school children of today, we must get back of the child, 
and do something for the illiterate parents. We must help to bridge the' 
chasm which inevitably results when the children of illiterates learn tO' 
depend on books instead of on hearsay and tradition. This is not a condition 
of yesterday, which will right itself, this is the existing and continuing occur- 
rence of today. Boys and girls who have missed the opportunity to attend 
school while children are settling down to lives of intellectual darkness in. 
your neighborhood and in mine. Mothers and fathers are bringing children 
into the world and are as incapable of recording their names and the dates, 
of their birth as were the inhabitants of central Africa before the missiona- 
ries went out to them with the key of knowledge as well as of salvation. 

Men and women in middle life are today, in all our towns and cities, trying 
to make an honest living under adverse circumstances because of their 
illiteracy. How can those who can not read and write compete in trade 
and succeed in business with those to whom the daily paper is an open letter 
and the deed to a. piece of property not a mysterious cipher! For the sake of 
the business interests of our towns and cities, we must convert these grown-up^ 
children into independent citizens by teaching them to read and write. 

Time was when it was no disgrace for a gentleman to make his mark and' 
let another hand write his name for him. Today no man, young or old, 
"makes his mark" without a sense of subjection, without a look of dejection. 
If a feeling of bitterness and resentment surges up within the soul of one 
such unfortunate, can any one say it is unrighteous? The life struggle with 
faculties undeveloped is not carried on on a high plane. The illiterate seeks- 
his own level and finds himself nearly every time at the bottom of the mass, 



30 Adult Illiteracy in I^orth Carolina 

of humanity. Not to read is not to know, not to know is not to be able. 
The honest struggle is frequently given up and dishonest methods resorted to. 

Carelessness, laziness, and wastefulness ^re excused in the illiterate. But 
when immorality and crime follow in their wake, society begins to question 
as to the fault and justice makes no allowance for illiteracy. We are learn- 
ing that society is the ultimate loser from every life that results in failure. 
The "community conscience," when brought face to face with the facts, feels 
a smart which makes us realize that we owe it to our fellow-men and women 
to give them, even at this late day, something of an education. 

Too long have we neglected this situation, too long have we ignored the 
problem it presents! We have accepted it as inevitable that some of our 
people should not be able to write their names, while others, more fortunately 
situated, are contributing to the world's store of books. 

That grown people could be taught to read and write has been proved in 
individual cases, but it might not have occurred to us as a State-wide possi- 
bility had not Kentucky led the way. The Moonlight School Movement in- 
augurated there has been a great success and is still succeeding. Not to hear 
or read the story that Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart tells of her Rowan County 
experiment is to miss the inspiration which is the heart of this movement. 
"Everybody can read and write in Kentucky in 1920" is Kentucky's slogan. 

Our own Superintendent Joyner has taken up the gauntlet thrown down by 
a Kentuckian — a woman — and has said "what Kentucky can do. North Caro- 
lina will also do." One-seventh of our population sit in intellectual darkness, 
we will take the light to them. It is a tremendous undertaking. Some one 
has said it is "a man's job," if so, we women will have to get right at it! The 
organized women of North Carolina will think as one on this subject, we can 
act as one when the undertaking is big enough to take in all of us and all 
our efforts. 

Shall we help start the movement, or shall we come in last at the finals? 
We have been asked at the beginning, we are asked to help now. The Com- 
mittee on Community Service, which did such excellent pioneer work 
last year has been reinforced and has taken up this big problem. These 
gentlemen have asked me to act with them in enlisting the interest and 
support of the women of the State. I can not refuse, but I must have help. 
I have asked for a committee of one hundred of the most influential women 
of the State to share the responsibility. This committee of "One Hundred" 
will undertake to enlist the active, intelligent women of every section in the 
movement. Ten thousand will be enrolled within a few weeks. People are 
not waiting to be asked. Every mail brings me letters saying "Count on me 
to help." 

What help is needed? The enthusiastic support of every woman who 
loves the Old North State is needed, and confidence in the movement to lower 
the rate of illiteracy. Only two states have a higher rate, some have less 
than one illiterate in a hundred. 

Some funds are needed, for stationery, postage, posters, etc. While in this 
movement "no one works for money and no one works for fame, but each for 
the joy of working," yet a contribution in money will facilitate the campaign. 

Volunteer teachers are needed from among the regular school teachers 
who are willingly shouldering the greater part of the burden of the night 



And Plans for its Elimination 31 

schools, and volunteers from the mothers, housekeepers, clerks, and students 
to supplement the teaching force. 

The schoolhouses will be the usual place for holding the night sessions, but 
in some cases it will be necessary to have additional meeting places such as 
halls, offices, rooms in factories, and private houses. Offers of such places 
of meeting will be welcome. 

Finally, the help and cooperation which are suited to your locality are 
needed. One housekeeper who lives near the school says she can not help 
with the teaching but she will gladly entertain the two lady teachers at 
supper on the evenings of the night school, and save them a long walk. Club 
women will see that the "Moonlight School Movement" is on their club pro- 
grams, and that each of their members has a chance to enroll as a supporter 
of the movement. Is this not the opportunity for which we have been looking 
to show our colors, and to prove our devotion to the State and our ability 
to work together? I feel confident that I can count on the support you have 
promised, my friends. 

"Having eyes, they see not." Let us not delay. Some one opened my eyes 
to the mysteries of the printed page. I am glad I can read and write. 

Out of gratitude to the one who taught you to read, send me your name 
today. Fill out a card like the form on next page, sign it plainly, and send it 
with your address and ten cents, or whatever you wish to contribute for the 
expenses. 



32 Adult Illitebacy in North Car 



029 487 238 3 



VOLUNTEER HELPERS' ENLISTMENT CARD. 

I desire to volunteer for active service in the great crusade against adult 
illiteracy in North Carolina. 

During the proposed "Moonlight School Month" I will give assistance in the 
"ways indicated by X marks below: 

..Teach in the night school, if needed. 

. .Help with the expenses, as far as I can. 

..Lend my house, office, etc., if needed. 

. . Help and encourage the teachers in my community. 

. . Help enroll other women as Volunteer Helpers, for which purpose send 

me blank mailing cards like this. 

(Put a X mark opposite each form of service you will agree to undertake.) 

Enclosed find 10 cents to help defray the expenses of this part of the move- 
ment. 

I have (have not) signed the Teachers' Pledge Card furnished by the 
€ounty Superintendent. 

Name , 

Address Town, 

County. 

the town. 
My home is in ,, , 

the country. 

Mail this card, with any contribution, to Mrs. T. W. Lingle, Chairman 
Montreat, N. C. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 487 238 3 






;,r... 



